Surface-mountable light fixtures of various kinds are known in the art. As used herein, this reference to “surface-mountable” refers to light fixtures that mount to any of a variety of (typically horizontal or vertical) mounting surfaces other than the ground. This reference will also be understood to refer to light fixtures that, unless mounted to the surface, will not remain in an installed position on that surface as gravity alone will cause the light fixture to fall from that position.
Installing such a surface-mountable light fixture typically entails two primary tasks; coupling the light fixture to mains electricity and physically securing the light fixture to the surface. A typically designed surface-mountable light fixture essentially requires that these two tasks be accomplished in the order presented above. This is so because physically attaching the light fixture to the surface inherently blocks access to the wiring. This, in turn, makes it impossible to couple the light fixture to the mains electricity once the light fixture has been installed on the surface.
This design approach, however, often presents a considerable installation challenge. In particular, it can be cumbersome to hold the light fixture in sufficient proximity to its installed location prior to such installation in order to permit the light fixture's wiring to be connected to the wiring for the mains electricity. This is owing to a variety of salient factors including, but not necessarily limited to, the weight of the light fixture, the form factor of the light fixture, the fact that installation often occurs at an elevated height and the installer may be balancing themselves on a ladder, the fact that the installer only has, at most, two arms/hands, and so forth.
A variety of work-around solutions have been proposed to attempt to meet this need. In general, these solutions tend to provide some supplemental mechanism to temporarily hold the light fixture in a position that is proximal to, but not equal to, an installed position in order to permit the installer to then use both of their hands to make the required electrical connections. Various hooks, for example, have been suggested for use in this regard.
Unfortunately, such proposals do not necessarily meet the needs of all application settings. For example, these solutions, by definition, provide only for a temporary holding of the light fixture. Once the electrical coupling is completed, the temporary holding mechanism must be removed and/or disengaged and the light fixture then affixed in an installed position. Mishaps can occur during this activity in part because of the previously established electrical connections. These connections can sometimes impair properly positioning the light fixture in the installed position, for example.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.